Where ‘Big Gretch’ got her nickname

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) wants everyone to know it’s OK to call her “Big Gretch.”

“In Lansing. they call me governor, but in Detroit, I’m ‘Big Gretch!'” the popular Democrat said Thursday, drawing cheers from the Democratic National Convention crowd in Chicago.

It’s true: They do call her “Big Gretch.” The nickname is seen as a compliment, and it came during the coronavirus pandemic.

Detroit comedy rapper Gmac Cash bestowed the nickname in a song in 2020, praising Whitmer’s COVID-19 response with nods to her stay-at-home order, discord with then-President Trump and response to the ensuing protests.

“We ain’t even ‘bout to stress, we got Big Gretch / You can find her in the press under ‘Big Gretch’ / Fresh in a new dress, yeah, that’s Big Gretch,'” he raps. “All that protestin’ was irrelevant / Big Gretch ain’t tryna hear y’all or the president / How we gon’ take orders from a nonresident?”

Shortly after the song’s release on YouTube, Whitmer gave her stamp of approval on social media.

“This is too much, Love the nickname. Love the song. See ya at the cookout, @GmacCash,” she wrote on the social platform X, known as Twitter at the time. “Until then, Big Gretch says stay home and stay safe!”

Whitmer elaborated on her view of the song and the nickname later in an interview with Michigan’s WNEM.

“Big Gretch is kind of a persona that came out of the pandemic. It was an acknowledgment that has gone through some tough stuff, and this was a nickname that came about because people wanted to give me a little encouragement. And so it was never a nickname I thought about or would have picked, but it’s one that I really appreciate. And I think it’s there. It’s funny, too,” she told the outlet.

Whitmer, the Democratic governor of a crucial swing state, is co-chair of Vice President Harris’s presidential campaign and is often mentioned among Democrats who could leap to the national stage.

But she’s also known for having a lighter side, leaning into the “Big Gretch” persona.

Friday is her birthday, so she posted on social media her “53 wishes” for her home state in the coming year, including pre-K for all and for the Detroit Lions to win in the Super Bowl.

Her signature deep magenta lipstick is literally her signature shade. “Big Gretch” comes from The Lip Bar, a Black woman-owned business out of Detroit.

Whitmer released a book of life lessens earlier this year titled “True Gretch: What I’ve Learned About Life, Leadership, and Everything in Between.” Detroit Free Press columnist Nancy Kaffer summed up the governor this way, when reviewing that book:

“She’s terrifically popular in Michigan, her 57.6 percent approval rating far exceeding Biden or former President Donald Trump. Personally progressive, she governs as a centrist, focused on the ‘dinner table’ issues she believes Michiganders care most about. She can appeal to voters in multiple Rust Belt swing states. She’s a Gen X woman at a time when voters are weary of the male septuagenarian and octogenarian political class. She’s won every election she’s run in, becoming governor twice by wide margins — and she’s good at her job.”